On the June 17 edition of Fox News Watch, syndicated columnist Cal Thomas stated that White House counselor Dan Bartlett and press secretary Tony Snow “looked a lot better in those metal helmets than [former Democratic presidential candidate] Michael Dukakis did in that tank some years ago." As Media Matters for America noted, a photo of Bartlett and Snow wearing helmets and flak jackets, while accompanying President Bush on a June 13 helicopter ride between Baghdad International Airport and the U.S. embassy in Iraq, has been widely circulated on the Internet. It was also featured on Page Two of The Washington Post in conjunction with a “Washington Sketch” column by Dana Milbank noting that “the result was more Michael Dukakis than Mission Accomplished.”

Here is the Associated Press photo:

As Media Matters also noted, CNN chief national correspondent John King reported on the June 14 edition of CNN's Live From ... that Bush also wore protective gear during the helicopter ride, but that members of the media “did not get to photograph him” because official personnel “didn't want us to get any pictures” of him entering or exiting the aircraft.

From the June 17 edition of Fox News Watch:

THOMAS: The whole -- and by the way, I thought Tony Snow and Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director and the press secretary, looked a lot better in those metal helmets than Michael Dukakis did in that tank some years ago.